German foreign minister makes unplanned stopover in Saudi Arabia

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) – German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was forced to make an unplanned stopover in Saudi Arabia while traveling across the Arabian Peninsula due to a permit issue to fly over Eritrea, media reports said on Wednesday.

The Airbus 321 aircraft carrying Baerbock and her delegation had to turn around at 1300 GMT on Wednesday on its way from Berlin to Djibouti in East Africa and land in Jeddah, a Saudi Arabian city on the west coast of the Red Sea.

Before landing in Jeddah, the plane circled the Red Sea for more than an hour.

“Despite all our efforts, we unfortunately did not receive clearance to fly over Eritrea,” the flight captain was quoted by the German news agency DPA as saying.

The delegation said issuing an overflight permit was also difficult due to a power outage at the Eritrean Foreign Ministry.

Baerbock wanted to stick to her travel plans, according to the report.

The German minister wanted to hold talks in Djibouti, Kenya, and South Sudan by Friday amid the bloody power struggle in Sudan, which has lasted since mid-April last year.

Baerbock's three-day trip, which was originally scheduled to last until Friday, had already begun when the aircraft's engine failed. On Tuesday afternoon, the "white" A319 aircraft was replaced by an A321LR, the news agency reported.

It is reportedly not uncommon to seek and obtain overflight permits during a flight.

However, the German foreign ministry was only informed in the morning, shortly before departure, that no such approval had been granted to the aircraft of Baerbock and her delegation, which was originally scheduled to fly them to Djibouti. It was then decided to rely on the appropriate approval being granted during the flight.

Last summer, Baerbock had to cancel a long-planned trip to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji in Abu Dhabi in mid-August due to a defect in the landing flaps of the old government Airbus A340. ​​​​​​​

At the time, the German military was unable to organize a replacement aircraft.